Phoenix Rising
by LightHawk
Summary: Sequal to Guardian's End. After Knuckle's death, the Sonic Heroes must face issues of their own mortality. Simultaneously, darkness looms on the horizon. Will they overcome, or be lost among the ashes? Various pairing. R
1. Prologue: Aftermath

Disclaimer: Sonic the Hedgehog and all related characters are the copyrighted material of Sonic Team and SEGA. These characters are used without permission without the intent of compensation for my time and effort.

_Italics are thoughts.

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**Recap**

In our previous story - Guardian's End – Knuckles the Echidna met a tragic end in a concentrated attack by Sonic and others against Dr. Eggman. He sacrificed his life so that Rouge the Bat would live. In his final moments, dying in Rouge's arms, he hinted at his true feelings with his last act.

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**Phoenix Rising**

**Prologue**

**Aftermath**

None of the heroes could look at eachother. Silence surrounded them as Amy Rose sobbed over the crimson figure on the ground. They had all seen death. It was a given in their chosen path through life. You just couldn't save everyone. But the grim reaper stared up at them all from underneath Knuckles' lidded eyes, mocking them and their mortality. Miles 'Tails' Prower had already vomited nearby, still unused to the cruel reality of life and death. Shadow the Hedgehog kneeled over the fallen hero, offering a prayer for his comrade's passing into the afterlife. Sonic stood disbeliving, his sight blurred by tears running silently down his face.

Suddenly, all those close calls came rushing back to Sonic. The first badnik, each of his fights against Eggman, Metal Sonic, his narrow escape from the ARK escape pod. Harshly, he realized that it should be him on the ground. He had had far more lucky breaks than Knuckles. "_It isn't fair . . . **It isn't fair . . .**_"

"It isn't fair!"

His shout only caused Amy to cry harder. Rouge just continued staring at the corpse on the hard dirt. Her eyes were swollen and puffy, but she seemed beyond crying, so great was her grief. Shadow rose from the body, and turned his back, hiding his misty eyes as best he could.

Tails finally dragged himself closer to the group, his eyes bloodshot. He looked around at those assembled, and finally mustered up enough courage to speak . . ..

"So what now?"

All of them seemingly ignored him, but internally each was debating what a proper response would be. Shadow turned back around and looked at each of them in turn.

"It's my feeling that he should be buried on Angel Island, with his people."

The group turned and looked at Shadow. They stared at him for sometime, before Sonic finally began to nod. Slowly, each followed suit . . ..

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Some time later

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Black was the dominant color among the remaining heroes as they stood around the Hidden Palace. No one spoke if they could. One by one, they had filed past Knuckles sparse coffin. Vector had chosen to speak the eulogy.

"None of us knew Knuckles beyond what mythology surrounded the Master Emerald, and what little he himself had told us. In the small span of time that I knew him, he led the Chaotix as well as anyone else could have. When that adventure ended, we all went our seperate ways, but I myself was most sad to see the last of the Echidnas leave. He was as loyal and purehearted as any of us, and the world is a darker place without his presence. I now wish that I had tried harder to be his friend, and I hope that his death will have taught me a lesson I should have learned long ago. No matter how strong or courageous you are, nothing can fill a void in your life as a friend can."

The rest of the funeral was a subdued event. None spoke as his Knuckles' body was laid to rest, but most cried. All present felt dead on the inside, and no one dared break the silence. Black met blue as the two prominant hedgehogs among the small crowd met in front of the Master Emerald.

"Sonic, you know what needs to happen."

"This isn't the time Shadow.", Sonic replied bitterly, feeling that his usual retort of faker wasn't appropriate in such circumstances.

"Eggman has near unlimited resources, and he knows how to reach this place, or so you have told me."

"I know, but who knows what the Master Emerald will do if we try to touch it? As far as I know, only Knuckles had any inkling to what the Emerald is truly capable of, and . . .."

"Well, how did he become Guardian? Surely there must have been someone before him?"

"_There wasn't."_

The voice seemed to come from nowhere, and everywhere at once. All eyes turned toward the Master Emerald, and to their astonishment, a light within was pulsating! Suddenly, a light flashed, and before them stood an echidna.

"Tikal.", Sonic said simply. The echidna princess nodded slightly, and turned to the assembled group.

"_I think that you all should know of Knuckles past. As some of you may have surmised, Knuckles has been the last of the echidnas for some time. Since the Great Disaster to be exact. He was born shortly before my tribe's assault on Chaos. When Perfect Chaos went rampant, the Master Emerald sought out a new guardian, one who would be more malleable and easily controlled than Chaos had been. It found Knuckles, an infant at the time, and shaped him into the warrior that you knew. He spent his whole life alone, until he met Robotnik. The rest is history."_

All stared at the apparition for a short time, before Rouge talked for the first time since Knuckles' death.

"How can you toy with someone's life like that! You never even gave him a choice in the matter! You forced him into servitude for thousands of years!"

With a final wail of despair, she sank once more to the ground, sobbing. Amy knelt down next to the bat, trying to comfort her as best she could.

Espio strode forward, fresh tears in his eyes as he accused Tikal.

"Knuckles' past, though interesting, isn't your real purpose here, is it? What urgency has brought you before us?"

"The Master Emerald needs a new Guardian."

Shadow walked forward to address the ghost, his voice having the full attention of his comrades.

"We all know what will happen. The Docter has an opening. With Knuckles dead, nothing is left standing between him and the Master Emerald. He has reached the Hidden Palace before, what is to stop him from doing it again? The only choice is to find a new Guardian."

_"Actually, we were hoping that one of you might volunteer."_

This question did not come unexpectedly. Unfortunately, none had prepared. Many quick glances and nervous coughs were exchanged, but they were quickly stopped as Shadow spoke once again.

"I volunteer."

Tikal smiled, and the Master Emerald brightened once more.

"_You understand the consequences of your actions?"_

"I am immortal, as far as I know. I'll need something to do for eternity."

Shadow's macabre humor did nothing to lighten the mood, and his friends visibly saddened as he approached. Sonic suddenly darted forward though, and grasped Shadow's arm.

"Wait! Tikal, what if Shadow wishes to pass this burden onto someone else? What happens then?"

_"Fortunately, we have decided that what we did to Knuckles was against his God-given rights as a living being. We know that simply apologizing underwhelmingly insuficient, but we feel that at least bestowing the choice upon those that follow in his footsteps is the only thing we can do."_

Shadow wrenched his arm out of Sonic's hold, and calmly walked forward. As he approached, Tikal kneeled upon the emerald, and reached her hand out to grasp his.

_"We shall return in one week. In the meantime, we ask that you remain here to guard the Controller. It will be defenseless while I guide Shadow on his path."_

Sonic merely nodded.

Tikal pulled firmly on Shadow's hand, and yanked him up onto the Emerald. She closed her other hand around his, and bowed her head. The Master Emerald shone brilliantly as they rose into the air.

_"Chaos Control."_

With Tikal's whispered words, the pair disappeared in a flash of green light, and the Master Emerald dulled once again.

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A/N: So, whaddya think? I think Shadow may be a little OOC, but I'd like your opinions on it. In fact, tell me if anyone is out of character, and what you want to see in this story. I'll try to be attentive, but I'm also going to follow my own path on this baby. Also, remember that I'm in college, so updates will be sporadic. Please R&R. Flames will be used to help power my doomsday device. 


	2. Ashes

Disclaimer: Sonic the Hedgehog and all related characters are the copyrighted material of Sonic Team and SEGA. These characters are used without permission without the intent of compensation for my time and effort.

_Italics are thoughts._

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**Phoenix Rising**

**Chapter 1**

**Ashes**

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It was deathly quiet among the remains of one of Eggman's numerous bases. No beast came into this part of the world, for those that did had the unlucky habit of never coming back out. This night however, shadow's flickered across the still smoldering ruins.

Rubbish slowly lifted, and was carefully set back down. For hours on end this went on. In the trail of the invisible phantom, the garbage appeared untouched since it's fiery destruction. Finally, as dawn began to break out across the land, the inspection ceased. Some time later, and some distance away, Espio the Chameleon finally uncloaked himself.

He turned back towards the way he had come for just an instant, then went about uncovering the enduro motorcycle he had hidden amongst the landscape. When he had finally extracted it, he raced off on the camo painted bike.

It took him quite a while to finally reach Chaotix HQ. After having beat their pay out of Eggman after the Metal Overlord Incident, the Chaotix Detective Agency had moved to a classy apartment building in LA. Their general fare still mostly consisted of lost chao and the like, but they lived off the interest provided by their last case, so they were happy.

Espio brought his bike up into the parking garage, and pulled in next to Vector's Land Rover, which was also painted camo. He carefully covered the bike and began to walk towards the elevator when he had a thought. Several seconds later, an evil smirk crossed Espio's face.

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Vector the Crocodile was happily jamming away on his tunes. After all, he really didn't have anything better to do until they got another case, or more paperwork needed to be done for whatever reason. He had lost that quality that he was easily disturbed, seeing as he now had a **very **comfortable reclining chair, and a 40G iPod, filled to the brim with just about any and all kind of music possible. He was so relaxed, in fact, that he didn't even notice the ventilation grate pop off, and then reattach itself to the ceiling.

Charmy the Bee however, being the victim of several caffeine and sugar rushes, noticed this out of the ordinary phenomenon. The reason being that he himself had done that very same thing many a time sneaking back into the sleeping quarters, right next door. The young bee smirked, and went back to whatever it was that he was doing.

Vector finally opened his eyes after something hit his leg. Time seemed to slow as he watched the small ball bounce off of his rubber skin, and he could see the small fuse run out.

The room dissolved into an opaque curtain of gray smoke as the tiny explosive detonated. When the smoke had finally cleared, Vector could feel sharp points pressing into his neck. The reptile turned his head slightly, and glanced his ninja friend out of the corner of his eye.

"Yield Vector."

"Actually Espio, I think we're at a stalemate."

The chameleon only had to tilt his head up to realize that his partner was right. Staring back at him were two Desert Eagles, wrapped tightly in Vector's grip. Dejectedly, the ninja released Vector and went to meditate in his usual corner.

Vector flicked the safeties back on, twirled the guns, and slid them back into their holsters. He turned to look at Charmy and shook his head when he realized that their antics hadn't startled him one bit. Back to business, the croc turned to Espio.

"So whaddya find at the base?"

"Just smoking garbage. Apparently Robotnik has improved upon his design in self-destruct mechanisms. Did we get any word back from the others on The Doctor's movements?"

"Of course not! Rouge is the only one with security clearance, and she's been crying up a storm since Red died."

Espio looked a little abashed at this comment, but remained quiet. Rouge still hadn't managed to get over the initial shock of Knuckles death, and she still wasn't willing to talk about it. They all feared that she wouldn't have recovered by the time the NSA tracked her down for her next mission.

"Well . . . what do we do?"

Vector turned towards the bee that had asked the question.

"We wait, and prepare. Its Eggman's move, and all we can do is watch him as best we can."

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Sonic was bored, plain and simple. There was nothing to do on this stupid island but stare into the Master Emerald for hours on end, then go for a run and find something to eat. Also, whenever he was in the Hidden Palace, he found that his eyes were drawn towards the solitary grave. By the sixth day of this, he was finally tired, and stomped over to the tomb.

"I don't know what your problem is, Knucklehead, but even in death you **infuriate** me! Why is it that no matter what I did, we could never see eye to eye? You were always to so apprehensive trusting me. As a matter of fact, why could you never trust any of us! We never wanted to hurt you. We were your friends, and you shut us out! What is it about this stupid rock that you find so amazing! As far as I can see, the only good thing the thing did for me was have me meet you. And now, I'm not even sure that was a blessing! You had to go and die, and now I'm left here being emotional over your grave! Do you know how that makes me feel? For every person I save, another two or three seem to die. I just can't win. And now, one of my friends has become one of those two or three. Who's next? Tails, Cream, Amy?"

Sonic broke down at that point. His eyes lost all sight as countless tears poured down his face. The ground yielded no answers as he pounded on it, swinging his arms for all he was worth. This went on for some time, until Sonic had finally degenerated into muttering all the mistakes he had made in his relationship with Knuckles.

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Amy knew something was wrong as soon as she opened her door. The blue blur stood before her, reeking of cheap booze. She glanced him over, and she realized that he was in the worst shape she had ever seen him in. His fur was matted, his eyes were bloodshot, a few quills were sticking out at odd angles, and his brilliant cobalt had darkened to an ugly navy blue. He also seemed to be sporting a split lip. All in all, he looked like he had tripped while running at top speed.

He staggered past her into her living room, and she could only watch as he collapsed onto the couch. The pink hedgehog sat down next to him, and inwardly debated if she should find out what had happened. She didn't have to decide.

"I'm sorry, about everything."

Sonic kept looking straight forward, never even glancing her way. His speech was slightly slurred, but she could tell he was deadly serious, if a little inebriated. He continued on after a beat.

"I'm sorry about running away, and always blowing you off. I'm sorry that I never even paid attention to you. But most of all, I'm sorry that I've never told you any of this."

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When Sonic awoke, his feeling was that of being warm. He also had the distinct impression that he wasn't in his own bed. This was confirmed by the large amount of pink visible when he cracked open his eye. This, he concluded, confirmed one thing. He was at Amy's. Thinking back, he realized that he had no recollection of how he had come to sleep at her apartment.

He pondered this development for a few minutes. After deciding that the only thing that mattered was that he was alive, he set about moving himself from his current position. When this proved difficult, he decided to find out what exactly Amy had done to restrict his movement. What he discovered brought him up to full speed quite quickly.

A tuft of pink fur obscured his vision below his ribs. He took several deep breaths, and when that failed to calm him, he decided that he had better get some air. His slightest movement however, woke the woman wrapped tightly around him. She yawned, and lifted her head to look at him.

"Good morning sleepy-head!"

When her cheery tone failed to elicit a response from Sonic, she sat up and frowned. Sonic was relieved to find her fully clothed in cotton pajamas. With that knowledge, he found the courage to speak.

"Umm . . . hi."

She didn't look thrilled with this response, so he decided to head her off and try for a different approach.

"Uh . . . any ideas on what I did between about six o'clock last night and just now?"

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A/N: Sorry about that last bit. I couldn't decide how to word Sonic and Amy's conversation about the night before, so I'll either put it into the next chapter or, preferably, I'd have someone e-mail me with a basic guideline as to how this would work. if you feel the need to do so. Please, I really do want to put this scene in. R&R 


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